You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
by attheendoftheday
Summary: One Shot. The Cullens and Hales are anticipating a little drama to entertain them for the night. What happens when Bella walks into the bar as an unknowing participant to the impending soap opera? B x E   AH/AU, maybe slightly OOC. M for language.


**Disclaimer:**** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, songs, lyrics etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

Closing the door to my and Jasper's loft apartment, I resettled the strap of my keyboard case on my shoulder and grabbed up my guitar before moving rapidly to the staircase and trotting down the three flights of stairs to the ground floor. I was running late and it had started raining while I was getting ready, so I turned up my collar, tucked my chin into my chest and started jogging the three blocks to Aro's. Pushing through the huddle of smokers sheltering under the awning, I grinned at Quil on Security as he held open the door for me.

Walking into the cocktail bar, I navigated around the mass at the bar that ran from the doorway along the back wall. Looking around the large room I thought that, tonight, the crowd at Aro's seemed to be a good mix of office suits kicking back at the end of the week and the older nightclub crowd warming up before their nights really got started. Emmett, Jasper and I were playing our second week here, filling the nine to eleven slot on Thursday and Friday nights.

The lights were low, leaving the booths lining the two side walls in soft shadow. The groupings of couches and armchairs spaced around low tables that took up the rest of the floor already seemed mostly full and the bar itself looked to be three deep. Jasper's friend Charlotte was on stage playing an acoustic cover of Kylie Minogue's "Can't get you out of my head", her voice soaring as she reached the "la la la" section of the song. Peter, her boyfriend, was at the soundboard tucked between the front wall of the room and the booth closest to the stage. I could see Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice already sitting in the booth. Looking back at the bar, I caught the eye of Seth and gestured for a drink for myself and another round of drinks for the others. He smiled back in acknowledgement and I quickly headed towards the booth.

Emmett saw me first, "Baby bro'! About time you got here, we're on in 15."

"I know, I know but I'm here now and so we're all good". I said, smiling over at him and Rosalie who was tucked up against his side.

I reached across Alice to bump fists with Jasper and then quickly drew back my hand and ruffled Alice's hair.

"Hey sis, what's got you looking so serious tonight?"

She frowned up at me, running a hand over her hair to assess the damage. "I'm not sure, Edward."

After a pause, where she stared blankly at the table, she smirked up at me and crossed her eyes. "I've got one of my feelings and I think you're going to have a good night."

"Am I going to meet another tall, dark and gorgeous stranger?" I teased, she was always trying to get me hooked up when it was the last thing I needed right now.

"Not tall, no..."

"Please, Alice, no chatting up any more brunettes for me, okay?" I stopped her.

"Whatever, Edward" She pouted, pushing her bottom lip out at me.

"No seriously, Alice and don't give out my cell number to any more girls, it's really awkward when they call."

Charlotte said goodnight from the stage and then gracefully jumped down and walked the five steps over to the booth, bumping me with her hip just as Seth arrived carrying a tray with our drinks. The house lights came up and generic music started thumping out of the speakers spaced arounde the walls.

Jasper smiled up at Charlotte, "Great set, Charlotte" and grinned at Peter as he joined us.

"Oh, oh, oh! Charlotte, you remember the two tragics from last night, right?" Alice asked excitedly as she pushed Jasper further around into the booth and then grabbed Charlotte's hand dragging her down onto the bench seat.

"Um, not really, there were a few in here last night, Alice."

"You know, the two blondes, the one of them gave us that hot floor show with the guy who tried to hit on Rosalie."

I coughed a laugh, Peter and Charlotte had stayed for our entire gig and so had also seen what Emmett had alerted the girls to when it became obvious from the stage that the drunken makeout session in one of the booths on the opposite wall was about to conclude rather messily and publicly, on show for anyone who cared to look. The low lighting in the room didn't provide that much privacy, and like it or not, we'd had the best seat in the house for the performance.

Charlotte grinned, "Oh yes, the most tragic of the tragics."

"Yeah well, they're here again tonight and Rosalie and I overheard them in the bathroom talking..."

"And...?" Charlotte leaned closer to Alice, "Don't tease, Ali"

"Well, the hot mess told her tall friend that the guy's girlfriend is flying back in tonight and meeting him here later on." Rosalie took over the story, also leaning in closer.

I laughed again, shaking my head at their excitement about the soap opera in the making. I downed my drink and then, seeing that we had only 10 minutes before starting, I gestured to Emmett and Jasper to let them know I was going to begin setting up on stage. Emmett nodded, sliding out of the booth to join me but Jasper just shrugged helplessly, being trapped in the booth between Rosalie and Alice. I grabbed his guitar case in my free hand and strode over to the stage, taking the big step up easily and then setting down the two guitar cases and then my keyboard off my shoulder. Lightly jumping down again and moving around to the side of the stage, I started handing up the low stools we were using and the rest of our equipment stored in the lockers hidden under the stage to Emmett.

Five minutes later our set up was almost complete, playing stripped back, acoustic covers meant that everything was pretty basic and our stage was easily set. Jasper joined us, grabbing out his guitar and then maneuvering his stool into position, taking centre stage between me and Emmett and completing our shallow U shape. Sitting like this, we all felt that we could be jamming like we used to during our teenage years back in Forks.

Jasper shifted on his stool, getting comfortable, and started to check the tuning of his guitar. He smiled ruefully at me and then Emmett.

"Pete's manning the board again for us tonight, giving Alice another night off" he murmured, jerking his chin over to the booth where Alice, Rosalie and Charlotte still had their heads together but had moved around to the other side of the booth so that they were facing the door and the rest of the room. They were now sitting side on to the stage instead of where they usually sat with the best view of Emmett and Jasper.

"Alice did say it was going to be a fun night", Emmett laughed back.

I looked over and saw that Peter was in position behind the soundboard. Nodding over to him, I straightened a little, shifting my guitar on my knee and picking out a quick melody to warm up while speaking into my microphone to start getting our levels set.

"Test one, two. One, two." Jasper said, following, and looked over for his ok signal from Peter which came quickly.

Emmett spoke next, "Testing one, two. Testing one, two." He softly beat out a couple of bars on the bongo drums wedged between his knees. Peter held his thumb up to Emmett too and then motioned for me to finish up by testing the extra mic set up on the low stand my keyboard was sitting on. I'd set up the keyboard to face the back corner away from where the soundboard and booth where the girls were sitting.

Swiveling my stool, I spoke into my second mic. "One, two. Testing one, two." Looking over my shoulder I saw Peter circling his finger at me to repeat the test.

"One, two. One, two. Testing one, two, two, two" Getting the all clear before I'd finished, I swiveled back to face the front of the stage and pulled my guitar back around onto my knee.

The house lights dimmed and, taking a deep breath, I looked at Jasper and then Emmett to make sure we were ready. When they both signaled in turn that they were good, I let out my breath, rolled my shoulders once and then leaned slightly forward to speak into the microphone.

"Good evening, everybody! We're Trouble and hope you enjoy our set tonight." Emmett snickered at our band name. I rolled my eyes, every time he heard the name he'd pouted about until we finally agreed to it he laughed. Every. Single. Time.

Quite a few people clapped at my introduction and the murmur that had built up in break between Charlotte and our set quietened down.

Emmett counted us in to our first song. and we launched into U2's "With Or Without You" with me singing the lead and Jasper and Emmett both harmonizing with the backing vocals. We smoothly rolled into the next song on the playlist I'd memorized for our first set, Radiohead's "Creep". We always stuck to our agreed upon list of songs for the first and second sets but left our third set fairly free, deciding on the night which songs to play, taking our cues from the audience and how we were feeling and whether we needed to include any requests that came to us during our breaks.

I lifted my gaze from the back of one of the speakers at the front of the stage and started to focus on the audience and the room as I began to relax. The steady hum of nervous anticipation that I felt every night before we played was transforming into the buzzing high of performing live with my brother and best friend on stage. The audience was definitely bigger tonight compared to last week and it looked like there were more clusters of females smiling up at the stage or talking animatedly amongst themselves. I looked to the back of the room and saw the crowd at the bar was deeper again from when I walked in just twenty minutes ago. I'd have to remember to thank Peter for approaching us about playing this gig, this crowd really seemed to dig our music and it looked like we could build a strong following at Aro's. Peter had talked us up and managed to get us an audition with Aro, the big boss himself, when Aro had been looking for a new band to fill this slot. Two weeks in and it looked like Aro's gamble on us was going to pay off, with increased patronage for his bar and a permanent gig for our band.

Our sound was pretty hard to describe, when I tried I always ended up sounding like an ass. Alice had probably come the closest saying that we were a blend of folk, blues and rock with a dash of funk and soul in some of our songs. Our playlist was all over the place also, with the three of us plus Rosalie and Alice all putting forward our current favorite songs during our weekend jam sessions to see what worked for us and what we could agree to play more than once. We crossed every genre from country (Jasper), pop and r&b (Emmett), rock (the three of us boys and Rosalie), dance (Alice), indie (me) and motown (me again).

Jasper took over the lead vocals for our next song, a cover of "Kryponite" by 3 Doors Down, and then kept going with Pink's "Just Like A Pill". The vibe bouncing back at us from the audience was building and I could see the lights gleaming off people's teeth in the crowd as they smiled up at the stage.

After the last chord of Jasper's second song, Emmett wrapped his hand over his microphone, and grinning broadly over at me and Jasper, rolled his eyes exaggeratedly out towards the front of the stage and murmured "12 o'clock low" and then snuffed a laugh. He dropped his eyes and tried to hide his grin but his shoulders started shaking with silent laughter.

I turned my head smoothly back to the front of the stage and then had to cough over my own laugh. Crammed onto the arm of the closest sofa perpendicular to the stage were three blondes wearing tight black t-shirts with "Trouble" blazoned across their breasts in glittering red script. Recovering quickly, I smiled my best crooked grin at them and then glanced over at Jasper. He had ducked his head so that his blonde curls fell forward giving him momentary cover and time to compose his own reaction but he now looked out at the three fangirls and smiled lazily at each of them.

Biting the inside of my cheek to contain my laughter again, I raised an eyebrow at the other two and struck the first chord of our next song to bring our focus back. With quick nods from Emmett and then Jasper, I tapped out the beat with my foot and then we all launched into our version of Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time". I struggled singing lead on this song, straining to hit some of the notes that came at me from out of nowhere. Damn Emmett. He was right with this one though because it always got a huge reaction from the audience. Mentally I shrugged; I didn't understand it at all. Then I had to laugh at myself for letting the music snob in me runaway for a second. I brought my attention back and saw Aro sitting in our booth with the girls, probably waiting for our first break coming up.

Hardly pausing between songs and playing over the scattered, spontaneous applause we started into Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone". Thankfully this would be the last of Emmett's picks for the set; my voice couldn't take much more strain.

Jasper took over the lead for the next song, Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" and this time I deliberately paused at the end of the song, picking up a water bottle and sculling half of it down, while Jasper got increasingly uncomfortable at the applause and whistles that went on and on and on and on. Our three fangirls looked like they were hyperventilating and were fanning their faces with their hands. Laughing into my shoulder, I put down my water and then took off my guitar, propping it into its stand. I wouldn't be needing it for the last two songs of the set as I'd be on keyboard and singing lead.

I spun around to face my keyboard and placed my hands above the keys ready as I listened for Emmett's start for the next song. Picking up his beat, I joined in with the melody of the introduction to The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry", and smiled down at my hands as Jasper joined in on his guitar and I started to sing.

Singing through the song I looked out at my new view from the stage, only able to see the one half of the room comfortably now without craning my head around. I saw with an internal snigger that our horny couple from last night were in the same booth again, with the Hot Mess, as Rosalie called her, welded to the side of the guy. I wondered if I'd missed the soap opera or if we were still waiting on the imminent arrival of the girlfriend. Just then I caught sight of Alice and Charlotte standing close to the booth, sipping cocktails with wide, innocent eyes. Alice smiled widely back at me and flicked her fingers at me to cast off my focus from them. Shaking my head, I looked down at my fingers playing and concentrated on singing the last notes of the song. Immediately I morphed the melody from my fingers into the introduction for Simply Red's "Stars" hearing Jasper and Emmett joining in just as we'd rehearsed.

We soared through the song, and as our last note faded, Emmett told the room that we'd back after a short break, doing his bad Elvis impersonation. Turning off our mikes, we quickly shuffled to the edge of the stage and jumped down to join the girls, Peter and Aro in our booth.

Aro stood up as we walked over and Emmett and Jasper slid quickly into the booth after Peter, sitting opposite the three girls. Aro was smiling broadly at me and holding his hand out to be shaken. Aro didn't shake hands though, he held hands, placing his free hand on top of your clasped hand quickly and then not letting go for the duration of your conversation. Luckily Peter had warned us about this habit before we'd first met Aro so we hadn't freaked out when it first happened but I still fought my inclination to rip my hand back every few seconds while I held hands with Aro each time I talked with him. Peter hadn't told us that Aro's dry skin felt like a snake's scales though.

"Edward, this is great, wonderful, exciting. You are all three such marvelous musicians and the audience loves you."

"Thanks Aro, we really like playing here." I could feel my back teeth clenching as he kept hold of my hand.

"We are almost at capacity tonight. I have called in Embry to help Quil on the door and I do believe we will have people queuing to get in before the end of your second set. I think the word is getting out about you."

"That's great, Aro. Wow, I thought the crowd was bigger tonight from last week." My jaw was starting to ache and I felt my bicep twitch minutely as he still kept hold of my hand.

"Yes and it looks like the ladies are flocking in." He said as his smile turned oily. "And you and I both know that where the ladies are, the men will be sure to follow". He leaned towards me, gripping my hand tighter now.

Seth saved me just then, bringing a tray with a round of drinks for us and news for Aro that a VIP was waiting to speak to him, wanting to continue their discussions about hiring the space for a mid-week corporate function at Christmas time.

Aro made his farewells and finally released my hand. After he'd turned away, I wiped my palm on my jeans and worked hard to avoid everyone's eyes at the table until I shook off the mild panic I'd started to feel holding hands with Aro.

Pushing my damp hair off my forehead, I grabbed the glass of neat scotch off the tray and propped my hip against the side of the booth next to Alice. Taking a big hit of my drink, I breathed deeply and glanced over at Seth who'd moved to stand against the other side of the booth.

"Hey, thanks man" I spoke quietly and probably too fervently.

"No worries... For what?" He asked.

"Er... For the drinks." I wasn't going to be bringing up anything that I thought about Seth's boss if he didn't say something first.

"Oh that's cool. Aro has asked me to keep you guys happy tonight. I'm too young to serve drinks behind the bar and I get underfoot most of the time when they're this busy." He smiled happily at me. "Besides, Rosalie asked me to stay close during your breaks to make sure you guys get a chance for a breather if the fans are descending." He frowned slightly and then shrugged. "She also asked me to keep away anyone who looked like trouble, I asked who and she said I'd know them when I saw them."

I huffed a laugh, knowing that Rosalie would have already spotted our three fangirls. "Cool, well thanks for that too, man."

Turning my head back to the booth, I tried to catch up on the conversations at the table.

Charlotte was speaking rapidly, "So, Hot Mess, her name is Kate, is still all over Garrett, he's the skeez and he's half all over her and half looking at the door every five seconds." Peter, Jasper and Emmett were laughing at the three girls.

Alice was sitting with one leg tucked under her as I watched she quickly pushed up, briefly standing against the table to look over the line of booths to the door of the club, before plopping back down.

Rosalie laughed, "Yeah, this Garrett has been looking over at the door nearly as often as Alice here."

"Ha, ha, Rose." Alice said, rolling her eyes before bobbing up again to look over to the door. Quickly dropping back down, she hissed. "It's her, it's her!"

"Aw, come on, Alice. You've been saying that about every female who walks in tonight." Rosalie sighed.

"No, no, no. It's her this time, truly!" Alice half squealed. "She has an overnight bag with airline baggage tags and-"

"Where?" Charlotte and Rosalie jumped up in tandem with Alice to look.

Laughing myself now at the three of them, I glanced over with them towards the door and felt like I'd been punched in the chest.

An angel had paused just past the bar, scanning around the room looking for her skeezy boyfriend in the crowd. Her chestnut brown hair was tucked behind her ears and flowed down her back. She was wearing dark denim jeans that sat low on her hips and skimmed closely down her long legs before flaring out slightly to cover what looked like cowboy boots. She had on a tight white top, covered by a black leather biker's jacket. I pulled my stare up from her hips where a large belt buckle glinted dully in the house lights, following her flat stomach up over the full curve of her breasts. I strained to see any cleavage visible under her jacket and then traced the line of her neck up to her heart shaped face. She was chewing on her bottom lip with a faint line creasing between her brows. Her gaze touched briefly on mine as she reached the end of her search along the row of booths on our side of the room before flicking across the stage to continue looking on the opposite wall. A second later her eyes flashed back to mine and held them for a long moment.

I would have stayed like that for eternity, a slave under her gaze, but Alice elbowed me sharply in the thigh right then.

"Stop staring! Can you make it any more obvious, Edward?" She hissed, glaring at me.

"Yeah, it must be her." Rosalie was saying to our table in general. "Hot Mess is now sitting a clear three feet away from Garrett the Skeez."

I shrugged at Alice, my eyes immediately darting back to my angel. I saw that she'd found her target as she waved briefly at him and then pointed to herself and then over to the bar. She turned and joined the back of the horde of people queued up already in front of her.

"Seth?" Alice cooed, smiling sweetly past me over at Seth. "Can you bring us another round of drinks? Can you also, pretty please, escort the lady with the duffle bag on her shoulder with you to bar and make sure she gets served right away?"

Seth laughed, already moving, right now seeming as caught up in the impending drama as the three girls.

"That looks like a real woman there," Jasper drawled, smiling over knowingly at me as he turned back to the table. "A little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll." He quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, I suppose..." I muttered, hoping that I hadn't been standing there with my mouth open or anything like that.

"What a fuckin' jerk!" Emmett spat, still twisted around, glaring over the top of the booth. "He obviously didn't pick her up from the airport and now he can't even buy her a drink!" Turning back to the table, he glowered at Jasper and me, both of our brows now raised at him.

"What? It's not right, that's not how you treat your lady!" He muttered.

Rosalie reached across the table and patted his arm. "Damn straight, honey." She purred.

"She looks nice," Peter said to no one in particular. "... sweet, for all that she has her badass jacket on." He continued.

I looked back to see Seth drawing alongside the pretty brunette who now had her back turned to us. My eyes glazed over as I stared at her tightly clad ass but shook it off as Jasper laughed.

"Man, you got it bad" He smirked.

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Whatever, _Jazzie_." I huffed, using Alice's nickname for him as I lifted my gaze back up to the bar. I devoured her profile with my eyes as she looked up at Seth standing next to her.

I watched as she laughed at something Seth said and then nodded, placing a small hand on the middle of his back as he stepped forwards, pulling her in behind him as he started to part the sea of bodies in front of the bar. I quickly lost sight of her as they pushed forward to the bar but kept watching the back of Seth's head easily seen above the rest of the people. I could see him lean forward at the bar, probably placing our order, and then twist around behind himself to pull forward the woman hidden by taller people, smiling down at her. I kept watching, shifting impatiently, as Seth waited at the bar for our order, leaning down often to talk with the beautiful girl beside him who I still couldn't see. My jaw was clenching by the time he finally picked up the tray, balancing it on his palm over his head and started to slowly make his way back towards us through the press of bodies, grinning cheekily at the circle of our faces all turned watching him. After he had forged out of the crowd, he brought the tray down and stepped sideways, turning back to the girl in the same motion. She placed one hand on his forearm and leaned up to talk into his ear. Bending down, Seth listened and then said something back that again made her laugh, before she moved off towards the booth where her boyfriend was waiting and he started back towards us.

Alice was literally bouncing in her seat now, "Okay everybody, you can look but make sure you don't look like you're looking, she'll be checking over here any minute to see where Seth ends up at."

I had to laugh out loud as Emmett shoved Jasper out of the booth onto the floor in his scramble to find a position to watch from without needing to twist and peer out over the top of our booth. Emmett quickly walked passed me, edging into the gap between the soundboard and our booth before leaning his forearms onto the wooden ledge of the back of the booth behind Rosalie, the king of cool now. Jasper followed him, punching his shoulder hard and muttering "Asshat" before mimicking his position, leaning forward against the booth between me and Emmett, his fingers brushing the back of Alice's neck. She smiled up at him and then turned back, watching Seth making his way over to us. Peter scooted around the bench seat closer to Charlotte so he too could see the booth on the far side of the room without turning.

"Spill, Seth" Alice hissed as he set the tray on our table and we all reached for our drinks.

"Her name is Bella." He smiled and stopped, proud that he'd gleaned this information for us.

I followed her slow progress across the room with my eyes and thought that no name could suit her better, beautiful woman that she is.

"Se-eth!" Alice pouted. "We need details!"

"Um... She's drinking Scotch on the rocks tonight, Edward." He said, gesturing at the drink in my hand. My stomach tightened as I tried to decide if she was drinking it because she liked it or if she needed the hard hit from the alcohol tonight.

"What else, Seth?" Alice pushed.

He frowned at his feet for a moment. "She smells nice?" It was more of a question now than a statement.

Alice sighed and then tried a different tact. "What did you say when you got to her?"

"Oh yeah, I told her that she looked like she really needed a drink." He shrugged.

Jasper and I laughed. "Smooth, man, smooth." Jasper murmured.

I thought about how she'd have to have a sense of humor and a probably a wide streak of kindness to react with a laugh like she had to being told she looked like she needed a drink by a big kid like Seth.

"What did you talk about at the bar?" Alice asked.

"Um... not much, I asked her if it was still raining out when she got in and then we talked about how it was always raining at this time of the year. Then she asked what my favorite time of the year was and then the drinks were ready and we didn't talk much more."

I bit my lip to stop any hint of a laugh escaping; he really was a good kid, very young but a good kid.

"What did you say at the end?" Alice pressed.

"I told her to wave if she needed another tow through the crowd to the bar."

"Better." Jasper murmured.

"Heads up, guys..." Charlotte said, appearing to be looking down at her cocktail but actually watching the other side of the room closely through her lashes. "Bella's on her final approach."

I think everyone was holding their breath right then as we all shifted slightly and tried to look casual while not missing anything that was about to happen.

Peeking across the room, being careful not to stare, I watched as the angel named Bella stopped in front of the booth where her boyfriend and his make out date from the night before were sitting. Bella's back was facing us but I imagined I could see tension in how she was holding her shoulders. I flicked my eyes quickly to the boyfriend's face and saw that his welcoming smile looked genuine, his eyes crinkling at their corners, as he started to shift around to stand from the booth, probably to greet her with a hug or a kiss. A flash of anger ripped through my body at that thought, I was furious that this asswad could even consider screwing around on Bella, who was looking pretty damn perfect to me so far.

I saw Bella hold up her hand to halt his slide out of the booth, and then flick her fingers to get him to move further back in along the bench seat. She placed her drink onto the table and dropped her bag off her shoulder into her hand, swinging it on to the seat between her boyfriend and where she was about to sit.

"Damn, that's gotta hurt." Jasper coughed, dropping his head down to hide his huge smile at the look on Asswad's face as he found his move to greet Bella so clearly shot down.

"You go, girl!" Rosalie murmured, barely moving her lips. I glanced over at Rose then and saw that she seemed to be looking at the people seated on the couches in the middle of the room between us and Bella. Her expression looked slightly bored and haughty but when she flicked a glance back at me I could see the gleam in her eye and she lifted one side of her mouth up into a fair imitation of my own smartass smirk.

Turning my head back, I could now study Bella's profile again as she reached over the table, coolly shaking the hand of the blonde sitting opposite her.

Right then the house lights dimmed and brightened twice in succession.

"Shit, guys!" Peter yelped, hurriedly sliding around to get out of the booth. "You're up! Go, go, go."

I bumped into Jasper as I spun towards the stage and he stepped out from next to the soundboard at the same time. Emmett then ran into both of us, pushing us back into each other again. Laughing and shoving at each other we strode towards the stage, our fascination with the far booth broken for the moment as we went to leap back into our second set.

"Seth?" I called, pausing to look over my shoulder. "Can we get more drinks in a few?" Raising my hand in thanks at his quick nod, I took the large step up onto the stage and quickly moved to my stool, grabbing up my guitar as I went. Pulling its strap over my head and settling onto my stool, I nodded to Emmett to count us in to the first song of our second set.

As Emmett tapped out the rhythm to Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" on his bongo drums, I quickly ran a hand through my hair, trying to refocus on the upcoming set. As soon as I strummed my first chord I immediately relaxed, feeling the strange and sudden reactions that had been hitting me since Bella had arrived recede. All I wanted now was to play the best gig of my life, impressing the beautiful woman who'd just walked into the bar.

Some of the people now close to the front of the stage started clapping as Jasper and I started singing.

"Oh ohoh ohoh, oh ohoh ohoh oh, oh ohoh ohoh, oh ohoh oh oh." We sang, easily harmonizing with each other's voices.

I heard a few shrill whistles above the applause and grinned over at Jasper and Emmett at the vibe building in the room. Closing my eyes, I started singing the first verse, pouring as much emotion into my voice as I could as if this was the one song I would ever sing to Bella. As Jasper and Emmett joined their voices with mine for the chorus I opened my eyes and looked over to where Bella was sitting. Our gazes locked together for a long second before I dropped my eyes away, feeling my diaphragm tighten and my breath start to disappear. Gasping a quick lungful of air, I sang the second chorus before daring another fleeting glance at Bella. Damn, she was staring right back into my eyes and this girl just stole my breath away again. I let Jasper and Emmett sing the chorus alone while I fought for my breath. Emmett was frowning over at me, trying to see if I was alright but Jasper's eyes were filled with laughter, he knew exactly what just happened and obviously thought it was hilarious. I finished out the song with my eyes locked on the back of the speaker in front of me, just like how I'd started our first set.

We quickly rolled into Amiel's "Lovesong", one of our favorites in our current playlist. It was fast and quirky and great fun to jam to. I kept my eyes away from Bella's booth while I sang, not wanting to lose it again on stage. Looking over at our booth instead I saw that Alice, Rosalie and Charlotte had sat up on the ledge of the back of our booth so they could see over the heads of the people who were starting to press forward towards the stage. They looked like they were just watching the crowd but they wouldn't be missing a second of what happened on the far side of the room. While I looked over at them, I noticed Seth gesturing across the room, pointing at himself and then back to the bar and then miming pouring a drink. I slowly swung my gaze over the crowd to Bella's position in the room, knowing I could look now while she was distracted by Seth's attempts at performance art. She stood up as I stared over, and I studied her ass again as she leaned in to get her purse from the seat. I dragged my gaze away reluctantly as she straightened and drank in the sight of her profile and hair. She was looking at Asswad and then at Hot Mess with a question on her face while pointed over her shoulder at the bar. The sweet girl was offering to buy drinks for them while she was up. Nodding at them she quickly turned away from me and started to slip through the knots of people between her and Seth who was now waiting for her in front of crowd at the bar.

I forced my attention back to the stage, realizing I'd just completed the song on auto-pilot and couldn't remember any of it. Looking at Jasper and Emmett, I nodded that I was back and ready for the next song, our acoustic version of Metro Station's "Shake It".

More of the audience whistled and clapped as they recognised the song. People were starting to move to the music now, singing along with me as they danced.

At the end of the song the crowd in front of us went a little nuts and Jasper, Emmett and I lapped it up. Laughing at each other's cheesy grins, we together started playing the intro of Marc Cohen's "Walking in Memphis". Jasper was singing lead for the next three songs and so I looked for Seth and Bella at the bar. Not being able to find them, I turned back and concentrated on playing and singing the best I could for Jasper's song.

As we hit the instrumental bridge Jasper caught my eye and gestured minutely with his chin towards Bella's booth. Still picking the melody I casually looked over to see Bella setting three drinks down onto the table and then taking a packet of potato crisps out from under her armpit and placing it in front of where she had been sitting earlier. She was standing side on to me, facing into her booth, when she shrugged her jacket off and tossed it on top of her duffle bag already on the seat. The snug white top I'd seen under her jacket earlier was actually a tank top with thin spaghetti straps and I couldn't see any sign of bra straps. She wasn't wearing a bra, just that tiny top with nothing else under it. She wasn't wearing a bra...

"."

"Mic, Edward, mic!" Jasper hissed.

"Yes please!" A high female voice called out from somewhere in front of the stage at the same time. A ripple of laughter ran through the crowd within hearing distance of my cheeky heckler.

Shit, I must have said what was echoing through my suddenly empty head out aloud and almost directly into my microphone. I'd stop playing at some point also.

"Sorry, I dropped my pick." I spoke quickly but deliberately into the microphone this time, trying to explain my random cursing. I ducked forward to grab the pick that I'd let fall and promptly smacked my forehead into my microphone.

Time for me stopped right then, splintering into separate bursts of awareness. I heard Jasper's and Emmett's burst of laughter before the crowd started clapping and cheering at my slick move of head butting the mic. I looked over to our booth and saw Alice, Rosalie and Charlotte laughing helplessly, clutching their stomachs. Peter was grinning at me, shaking his head. Seth was just stopping next to the stage with three drinks for us and I could see his shoulders shaking with his own laughter. Great, even Seth was laughing at me. I could feel a blush flood my cheeks and the sudden flash of heat made me aware of my damp t-shirt clinging to my sweaty torso.

After a second that felt like an hour I leaned down again and finally grabbed up the stupid pick. I joined Jasper playing the last few bars of the instrumental break, smiling weakly at the faces I could see in the crowd that were watching me closely.

For the rest of the song I couldn't look towards Bella, not able to bear to see if she was laughing at me too or if I'd made her uncomfortable with my boneheaded display just now.

We paused at the end of the song while Jasper moved the capo on the neck of his guitar for his next song.

Emmett covered his microphone and spoke over to me quietly, "Ed, can we change out the last 2 songs? We'll lose this crowd on those ones."

I looked over at Jasper who nodded. Shrugging I nodded also, already playing the introduction to John Cougar Mellancamp's "Hurts so good". Jasper kept the lead, and when Emmett and I joined him singing the chorus so did most of the girls dancing in front of the stage. Grinning, I flicked a glance over to Bella's booth. She was moving her head to the music and tapping the beat on the table, smiling up towards Jasper on the stage. Feeling my eyes on her, she shifted her gaze to mine and smiled wider. Feeling my chest expand a little with her smile, I turned my head back to the front, smiling myself and suddenly feeling giddy like a schoolgirl.

At the end of the song, I lifted off my guitar, propping it on to its stand. I pulled up the hem of my t-shirt to wipe the sweat off my face and grabbed my fresh drink. I swiveled to the keyboard while sipping my drink. Setting it down again near my foot, I listened to a Emmett's count and, coming in on my cue, played the first chord of John Mayer's "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room". I watched my fingers while I played, happy to get lost in the song. Jasper was converting more fangirls with this song, his vocals and playing style perfectly matching the mood of the song. I looked up only once at Bella's booth, noticing that Hot Mess was no longer sitting with Asswad and Bella. I dropped my eyes quickly before Bella could catch me staring at her again.

When we'd finished the song I spun back to face Jasper and Emmett in the quick break while Jasper again moved his capo up the neck of his guitar.

"Em, what do you want to play after the next song?" I asked, careful to not speak near the microphone.

He grinned wickedly back, "I don't know, it's getting kinda hot in herre..."

"Nooo Emmett. I hate it, it's stupid."

"Aw c'mon, Edward. I wanna sing." He pouted.

I looked at Jasper, pleading with my eyes for him to shoot down Emmett's choice, he always cast the deciding vote when Emmett and I bickered over songs.

"Sorry, Edward. It IS getting hot in herre and I wanna take my clothes off." He laughed over at me.

"Fine!" I spat, turning back to my keyboard.

I breathed in deeply and rolled my shoulders to shake off my irritation, waiting for my cue to join in on Jasper's intro into Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire". Stroking the melody from the keys I focused on roughening my voice to suit the song. Looking into the audience I saw that I would probably have a few of my own fangirls after tonight. I dialed up the charm a little and smiled crookedly at the couple of the girls who were trying to catch my eye. The press of bodies in front of the stage was thicker now and everyone sang along with us in the chorus.

I turned away from the keyboard at the end of the song, gritting my teeth while I grabbed up my guitar, shrugging into the strap. I was avoiding looking at Emmett, pissed that he was going to make us play our version of Nelly's "Hot in Herre". It was a song that always sent the audience crazy when we played it, and Emmett rapped the verses brilliantly but I hated singing the counterpart backing in the chorus, feeling stupid and uncomfortable. Jasper would be harmonizing with Emmett in the chorus while I had to sing on my own, straining to sing up high and sounding like a girl, I thought.

Jasper sat back laughing at my own pout that perfectly matched Emmett's from a couple minutes earlier as Emmett introduced the changed up song.

"Hey there! We're gonna mix things up now because it's been getting hot in herre" He spoke, leaning into his mic, "This one goes out to all the ladies..." He finished, dropping his voice to a deep bass.

I laughed now at Emmett's bad Barry White impersonation. All of Emmett's impersonations were bad. Shrugging off my little snit, I decided to just have fun with the song tonight, I couldn't look like too much of a fool singing it if Jasper and Emmett hadn't given me grief about it before now. I smiled at Emmett's first spoken word verse; he always rocked it out of the park and tonight was the best I'd heard him do. For all my stuff ups and lapses in attention tonight, I felt this was the best we'd ever played in public, using the crowd and our own energy to build up each song.

At the end of the song, I quickly pulled up the bottom off my t-shirt again to wipe my face. I grinned cheekily back in the general direction of the wolf whistle that pierced through the clapping and cheering for Emmett. It really was hot under the lights, I'd have to talk with Peter or Aro to see if there were fans or air-conditioning vents overhead that we could get turned on before our next gig if not before our third set.

Dropping the hem of my t-shirt I looked over at Jasper, "Your choice now, Jazz." I told him, again making sure my mic wouldn't pick up my words.

"We've gotta play "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" now." He replied.

I looked over at Emmett who nodded his acceptance of Jasper's choice.

"I can't remember the chords, Jazz." I frowned.

"That's ok, man, you can just sing. I've got it." He murmured, lifting an eyebrow to question if I was ok with that. When I nodded ok, he smirked.

"I'll intro it and you just sing it real purdy now." He drawled, exaggerating his accent.

I rolled my eyes at him as I shrugged out of my guitar, setting it back on its stand.

"We gotta cool things off now before our next break." Jasper drawled into his microphone when the audience quietened again. He smirked at me once and then turned to the front again, carefully avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"This one's going out to one special lady tonight..." He continued, strumming the chords for the start of Brooks & Dunn's "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone". Still playing, he spoke again into his mic, "Sometimes you gotta stay to work things out but sometimes you gotta know that you deserve better. When you're lucky, that someone better is right in front of you, like tonight..."

I frowned at Jasper as I started to sing, not knowing what he was going on about with his intro to the song. I heard Alice's piercing whistle and looked over at our booth, seeing the girls now standing up on the bench seat, applauding Jasper's introduction and song choice. Shaking my head I shrugged off my confusion, focusing on singing as clearly and sweetly as I could.

_I'm still hurting from the last time _

_You walked on this heart of mine_

_I can't find much to believe in_

_You let me down so many times_

_Heaven knows how much I love you_

_But I'm tired of holdin' o-on_

I looked up over at Bella as I finished the first verse, unable to resist the pull I felt towards her. As I sang the first line of the chorus, I watched her lips move as she mouthed the words with me. She knew the song and was singing it with me!

_You better kiss me _

_'cos you're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

_There's not much chance we're gonna make it_

_If I'm the only one who's tried_

_And though I'm runnin' out of reasons _

_We're runnin' out of time_

_Someday, girl, you're gonna wake up _

_And wander what went wro-o-ong_

As Jasper and Emmett joined me again for the chorus, I smiled over at them. The hyper mood of the audience had stilled and I felt like we had cast a different spell over them with this song.

_You better kiss me _

_'cos you're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

Waiting for the final verse, I looked over to Bella again, feeling my own reaction to the words of the song and our playing building in my chest. She wasn't watching the stage now though; she was frowning down at the table in front of her, chewing her bottom lip again. I stared at her brow, wanting to pull her gaze up to meet mine solely with the intensity in my eyes.

_You're good at going through the motions_

_And all I hear are alibis_

_Now I get this empty feelin'_

_When I look into your eyes_

_And I don't see the lovelight shinin'_

_And I don't know what's goin' o-o-on_

I watched Seth stop at her booth. He must have taken a round-about route to the bar to collect her this time because she wouldn't have been able to see him with the crowd now between our booths. She smiled up at him and held up one finger to him, asking for a minute, before shooing him on his way with her hand. I watched as she turned to her bag on the seat beside her and started rummaging in it. After a short while, she pulled out something small in the palm of one hand that I couldn't see and started pulling on it with both hands using her forefingers and thumbs as pincers. She pushed whatever she had in her palm down into her pocket and then slid further into the booth towards Asswad. As I watched she reached a hand up to the back of his neck and pulled his head down to hers for a long, sweet kiss. Drawing back, she smiled up at him and then slid something across the table to him with one forefinger. She slid out of the booth then, reaching in to grab her jacket and bag. She shrugged into her jacket while facing him, her profile facing us on the stage. I could see her lips move as she said something quickly to him and then smiled sadly.

Panicking slightly, I glanced back to Jasper and Emmett as we started again on the chorus. They were watching the booth also, with almost identical stunned expressions on their faces.

_You better kiss me _

_'cos you're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

_You better kiss me _

_'cos you're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

Still singing, I looked back to the booth but she had already disappeared. I quickly scanned the crowd in the immediate vicinity and fixed on the sight of Seth's back moving towards the bar. I caught glimpses of Bella's hair as they both weaved and dodged around the people standing to watch us on stage.

I blocked out the riot of thoughts and questions rolling through my head, concentrating on finishing the song so I could get the off the stage and find out what was happening.

_oh oh oh_

_You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

_You better kiss me _

_'cos you're gonna miss me, you're gonna miss when I'm gone_

_You better kiss me _

_'cos you're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

_oh oh oh_

_You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

I actually had to grip my stool as our last note faded to stop from bolting off the stage.

As the applause quietened, Emmett spoke into his mic "We'll be back after a short break."

The house lights came up and I quickly strode in front of Jasper and Emmett to the side of the stage and hopped down. I fixed my gaze on the floor to avoid being stopped by anyone while crossing the 10 feet to our booth.

Alice, Rosalie and Charlotte were sitting back down in the booth, talking quietly. Peter sat opposite them, twirling an empty glass in his hands. I took up my earlier position, leaning my hip against the side of the booth next to Alice.

"Nice mic work there, Dude." Peter snickered, referring to my earlier embarrassment.

"Thanks Pete, I've been practicing it at home." I joked back before looking back up towards the bar to see if I could spot Seth.

"Girls! What'd you think of the set?" Emmett greeted the girls as he slid into the booth next to Peter. "And what the fuck just happened with Bella?" he continued before they could respond.

"You guys rocked it, baby, like you always do" Rosalie purred, reaching over the table to stroke a finger down his cheek. "Yum, sweaty... And we don't know what's going on, babe. She might have walked out on Mr Skeez but maybe she just wanted to leave early. Who knows?" She asked rhetorically.

"Seth might be able to tell us more when he gets here." Charlotte added.

Alice looked around me towards the stage, "Where's Jazzie? Em? Edward?" She asked.

I shrugged, not looking away from my search for Seth.

"He had to visit the little boys room, Alice. He said he'd be right over." I heard Emmett tell her.

Just as I spotted Seth's head moving towards us through the crowd, about halfway back to our booth already, I felt a hot hand grip my elbow. I jumped at the unexpected touch and whipped around.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." One of our fangirls in the black Trouble t-shirts was standing next to me, her hand still reached out towards my arm. I could see her two friends standing close behind her, staring between me and Emmett with wide eyes.

"You didn't scare me, I just startle easily." I responded, smiling lazily down at her.

"Oh... well sorry for startling you then." Her voice sounded breathier now.

One of her friends nudged her from behind. "Um... Do you take requests for songs?"

"If we know your song and can play it alright then we'll try and fit it into the next set for you." I answered, biting the inside of my cheek so as not to laugh as she tried to stop her friend poking at her without taking her eyes off my face.

"Cool! Can you play anymore Kelly Clarkson songs?"

"Yeah... How about 'Because Of You'? Would that be ok?" I asked.

"That would be awesome!" She smiled up at me.

"Excuse me, Ladies! Coming through!" Seth interrupted, stepping to the table and setting his tray down.

"Oh okay... Bye!"

"Bye!" I repeated, and then swallowed a laugh as they spun around quickly almost colliding with and taking down Jasper who was just walking over.

Jasper stepped around behind Seth to slide into the last available seat next to Emmett. As he sat he quirked an eyebrow at me, questioning what the fangirls had wanted.

"They asked for more Kelly Clarkson, I said we'd try for 'Because Of You' in the next set." I told him and Emmett.

Both nodded, happy enough to include the song after the break.

"So, Seth, what went down during the last song?" Emmett asked.

"Bella broke up with Garrett." He told us. "She returned his house key and said she'd ring him about picking up her stuff."

"What!" Alice gasped. "Is she ok? Has she gone?"

Seth nodded, "I asked her if she wanted to come sit over here but she said that she'd had a long day and was going to call it a night." He picked up a folded napkin from the tray and held it up. "She told me to give this to 'the Pretty One'."

"Me!" Emmett cried, reaching for the napkin.

"Edward!" Charlotte, Alice and Rosalie chorused together.

Alice snagged the napkin from Seth before Emmett could grab it and passed it to me.

"She asked me what she should write on it but I didn't know either." Seth told me as I opened it out.

Scrawled on the back of the napkin was just one word, 'Bella', with a cell phone number. Staring down at the messy handwriting I felt my chest expand and my smile widen.

"What does it say, Edward?" Alice asked, trying to see what was written.

"It's just her number." I replied, still smiling down at the napkin in my hands. "Ali, can I borrow your phone?"

"Yep, you got it bad, man" Jasper laughed.

"Yeah, I suppose I do." I laughed back, unable to stop smiling like a fool.

"Here you go, Edward" Alice said, handing me her phone.

"Thanks, sis!" I turned with the phone and moved around to sit behind the soundboard, trying to find the quietest and most private spot to call Bella from. I turned my back to the booth where Alice, Charlotte and Rosalie were now staring at me from over the back of the seat.

With slightly trembling hands I keyed in the number Bella had written down and pressed the phone to my ear, covering my other ear with the heel of my palm so I could hear better. I waited, counting the rings on the other end. As I was just about to end the call, not wanting to have to leave a message, I heard the call connecting.

"Isabella Swan speaking." A warm, musical voice answered the call.

"Um, hi, is this Bella?" I stumbled. Shit! I should have planned what I was going to say before calling.

"Yes, who's this?"

"Um, this is Edward, um, from Aro's... er, um, the pretty one?" I cringed. Geez, I was getting worse, I wanted to just hang up right then.

"Hey! You called!" She replied, sounding like she was smiling. "And, please, don't be denying that you know you're pretty." She laughed now. "I saw you flashing your six pack at the girls in the front row." She teased.

"What! Flashing? I wasn't! I was just really sweaty" I spluttered.

"That's what she said." She snickered, making me laugh out loud.

There was a brief silence then.

"So-"

"Are-" We both spoke at the same time and then stopped waiting for each other to speak again.

"You go." She quickly said.

"Okay. Um, I just wanted to see if you are alright." I muttered, feeling awkward.

I heard her sigh. "Yeah, I'm good." She answered, all traces of the smile in her voice gone now.

"Did you..." I stopped and took a deep breath before rushing on. "Um, look please tell me to piss off if I'm out of line here, but did you just break up with your boyfriend?"

She didn't say anything for a while and I waited anxiously.

"Yeah... Yeah, I guess I just did." She paused again but then continued, "Did Seth say something?"

Oh crap, now what was I going to say? I didn't want her to think that Seth had just told us randomly but I also didn't want to admit why we had noticed what had just played out with her and her now ex-boyfriend. What had started out as an, admittedly pretty sick, anticipation of some melodrama for our own amusement had quickly, I'm sure for everyone and not just me, transformed into genuine care and concern for Bella after watching her deal with what was actually a sad and shitty situation.

"He did... but only because he was asked about it..." I tugged a hand through my hair, trying to think of a plausible reason for us to have even noticed what had gone down earlier. I didn't want to lie to her and I knew I would tell her the whole truth as soon as she had met us all and wouldn't jump into thinking the worst of us for our stupid game. "Um, he was asked partly because of my, uh, um, well because of my reaction to you tonight..." I stammered.

"Your reaction?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, well, um, it was probably pretty obvious to my friends, and probably everyone else in the crowd, that I, um... that I kinda lost it a couple of times when I looked at you... " I could barely hear myself as I finished and I had no idea if she would have been able to hear me either and what she would think if she had.

"Oh..." She whispered back.

"So, yeah, when you vanished so quickly we wanted to know if you were ok."

"Well... Yes, I am actually alright..." I heard her take a deep breath. "It hurts, even though it's been a while coming and I should have broken it off ages ago. I'll be glad I did it in the morning... " She paused again. "I guess I'm also a bit embarrassed that I just flounced out on my guy in a bar, it seems a bit clichéd or overly dramatic or something." She took another deep breath then, "I made up my mind about breaking things off with Garrett while I was away but I was going to wait to talk to him on the weekend but it all just happened tonight…." She was speaking rapidly but stopped as if she'd run out of words. ."And it all just sucks, you know? It just sucks that it didn't work out..." She sighed then, her voice trailing away.

I felt helpless as I didn't know what to say to make her feel better. Casting around desperately for something to say, I ran a hand through my hair.

"It sounds like you could use a hug right now." I said, and didn't realize until I'd finished speaking that my voice was an octave lower than normal. I thought I heard her gulp on the other end of the call.

"Yeah, well, I..." She stopped and cleared her throat. "Can I take a rain check on that hug?" She laughed then, "It'd be better if we are both sweaty otherwise it'd just be a bit... I don't know... icky or something... "

I immediately flashed on an image of hugging a Bella lightly covered in a sheen of sweat and then pictured running my tongue down her damp, sweat slicked neck and then darting down to taste the salty skin in the valley between her breasts.

"Actually, I'll save that hug, if I can, for when neither us are sweaty, it'd be better if neither of us are all wet... Shit, why am I still talking out aloud?" I faintly heard her mutter, "Edward?... Edward? Geez, where's my filter when I need it?"

I barely registered all of the words she was saying as I now thought about Bella lying beneath me, hot and wet and waiting for me.

"Edward?"

"Um, what?" I shook my head to clear it. "Sorry, did you say something?"

She laughed softly, "Yeah, I did... Probably too much... Sorry for the word vomit just then... " She paused and then asked softly. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Anything... " I replied.

I heard her huff a laugh, "Careful there, Edward, I could get really random here and ask something you probably don't want to have to tell me right now." I could hear the smile back in her voice.

"Ok, almost anything, is that better?" I laughed back.

"Yeah, better..." She murmured and I heard her take a deep breath before speaking again. "Look, did Garret hit on one of your girls before I got there?"

I didn't answer right away, again not knowing what to say, and she rushed on to fill in the silence, "It's just that he seemed to be fielding some pretty dark looks tonight and I thought maybe he'd upset one of your girlfriends or something..." She trailed off.

"Oh, okay," I jumped in, wondering if she thought I had a girlfriend. "I think he tried something on with Rosalie last night but she shot him down."

"Last night? oh... " She murmured faintly. "Which one is Rosalie?" She asked then.

"Rosalie is the tall blonde." I replied, mentally kicking myself for bring up last night.

"Ah, the supermodel."

"She's Emmett's girlfriend, he's the big guy on drums and also my brother." I filled in.

"The guy with the problem with the thermostat who wanted us to take off all our clothes?" She laughed.

"Yeah," I chuckled lightly. "And then there's Alice, my sister, she's the little dark haired girl."

"The pixie?"

"Yep, that's her." I laughed. "She's Jasper's girlfriend, he's the tall, lanky guy on guitar and my best friend from school. He's also Rosalie's younger brother."

I waited for Bella to say something for a short beat of time. I rambled on when she didn't speak, "And then there's Charlotte. She plays the set before us at Aro's and her boyfriend, Peter, was working the soundboard for us tonight." I finished lamely.

"Okay..." Bella said.

There was another pause that neither of us filled.

"I'm single." I blurted out.

"Oh... Well, I guess I am too now." Bella responded quietly.

At that moment, I felt someone tapping me on my shoulder. I looked over and saw Alice standing behind me. I glared at her and turned back away but before I could speak to Bella again, Alice pinched me sharply on my waist.

"Ow! Fuck, Alice!" I yelped, grabbing my side, before realizing I'd just cursed in Bella's ear. "Sorry Bella! The pixie just pinched me really hard and I forgot I was on the phone." I apologized rapidly.

I heard Bella laughing but just then Alice pinched me again, harder this time.

Turning around and covering the phone, I hissed "What?"

"Ask her Bella if she needs a place to stay, she can stay with me if she needs to." Alice said, glaring right back at me.

"Okay, okay! I'll ask." I muttered. Not daring to turn my back on Alice again, I raised the phone back to my ear, still holding my side.

"Um, hey, Bella. Alice wanted me to check that you have somewhere to stay tonight. You can crash at her flat if you need to, she has plenty of room..." I offered.

"I've already organized to stay with a friend. Can you thank Alice for me though? That's very generous of her... a bit weird at the same time, mind you, she doesn't know me at all..." She responded.

"Yeah, that's Alice, very generous but a bit weird..." I took a deep breath then. "Bella?"

"Yes, Edward?"

"Um, can I call you again tomorrow? It's just that this isn't my phone, I never bring my phone to a gig, in case I lose it because I can't take it on stage and so I had to borrow Alice's phone." I ran my hand through my hair in frustration; I couldn't control my own word vomit when talking to this girl.

"I'd really like that, Edward." She replied.

Just then, Peter waved a hand in front of my face and then pointed at his watch. Crap, our break was over and I had to get back on stage.

"Bella, I have to go back on now."

"Okay, have a good time then." She said and I could hear her goodbye in her voice.

"Wait! Bella?" I called, hoping she hadn't begun to end the call yet.

"Yes?"

"Um, would you like to come and see us play again next week?" I asked. "We are playing Thursdays and Fridays at Aro's now. You could sit with Alice and Rosalie."

"That sounds fun, I'd like that a lot." She replied.

"And I'll speak to you tomorrow, right?" I asked.

"Right! Well then, goodnight Edward."

"Goodnight, Bella."

I pressed the button to end the call then and turned to give Alice back her phone. Meeting her eyes and then glancing at Rosalie and Charlotte who were still watching me closely over the back of the booth, I felt my smile widen until I thought I would split open my cheeks. "I'm calling her again tomorrow." I told them. "And she's coming to watch us play next week."

I saw that Jasper and Emmett had already left the booth and so I turned to start towards the stage. I felt like I was 10 feet tall and on top of the world as I eased quickly through the crowd and leapt up onto the stage.

I couldn't wipe the grin off my face as I swept up my guitar, quickly pulling its strap over my head. Emmett counted us in to Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" and I poured all of my joy into the song as I tried to find an outlet to how I was feeling. It was like I was floating two feet off the ground and zinging with electricity. Jasper and Emmett both grinned widely at me, reading from my face that everything had gone alright with Bella.

As I sang I looked over to where Bella had left Asswad. He was still sitting in the booth, leaning forward on his forearms and looking down at his hands clasped in front of him on the table. He looked wrecked and I almost laughed out loud. I could see, by the back of her head, that Hot Mess was back sitting next to him, leaning in towards him but it almost seemed like he was pressing away from her.

My smile turned smug now, happy that I now had a chance to get the girl that he'd just so stupidly lost. I was going to do everything I could do to win Bella's love and spend every day and night with her for the rest of our lives together. Wow, I thought to myself, where had that come from? Shrugging inwardly, I knew then that I had started falling for the funny, sexy, kind, beautiful girl that I'd seen for the first time only an hour and a half ago and only spoken to on the phone for ten minutes. I deliberately tamped down my joy at that moment, feeling myself one breath way from bouncing in my seat like Alice. I sucked in a lungful of air, for the moment looking forward to nothing more than calling Bella tomorrow.

fin


End file.
